Banks aren’t looked at to be innovative. Their traditional persona is that of an old, stable, go-to place to store your money. Safely. And get to your money at any time you like. Yes, this digital age requires change in the way that traditional banking is done and many if not all banks by now have some sort of a smartphone applications for their customers to interact with their money.
Very few banks have taken a much required step in personalising the interactive experience with their customers and fewer still invested the time and energy to over-haul their communications strategy to actually benefit their customers. The exception to this rule here in Bahrain appears to be the Bahrain Islamic Bank.
BisB is the only bank here that has an active, and interesting social media presence. If you have a look at their LinkedIn page for instance, you will see that it is thriving with content: video, articles, animations, infographics, podcasts and even an animated character that is done brilliantly that informs and entertains the viewers.
While on the other social media channels, they have engaged Omar Farouq, a Bahraini YouTube sensation that is hitting all the right buttons not because of training, but due to his easy, approachable and all-around nice personality.
I applaud BiSB for their communications efforts and products. They’re doing things right. Here’s to them continuing to even more success and let’s hope their experience inspires other banks to follow in their footsteps soon.